Every once in a while you get a book assigned to you for a class that actually changes your life. Maybe it’s the book that makes you realize that this is what you’re meant to study, or the novel that alters your perspective on your field.

Through my political science classes, I’ve been fortunate to have several of books that have done just that, but I’m always on the lookout for new books to read in the subjects that I ordinarily don’t get to study.

For this article, I reached out to students from every major I could find, from Econ to Enviro, General Chem to Gender Studies, to find the best books that real college students are reading for their classes. (I’ve linked them below, but feel free to buy them from your local bookstore instead!)

Scroll on down to see all of the college major book picks!

Table of Contents

The Best Books, According to Political Science Majors:

1. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander 

This book shows the ways legislative efforts have redesigned the racial caste system in the U.S through the criminal justice system. It examines how mass incarceration has become a system of racial control all while operating under “the principle of colorblindness.”